Looking for love
by apracot
Summary: Hotch needs a little push in the right direction to see whats been staring him in the face for a very long time. H/P


Ok so this is H/P and it's about Hotch getting the courage to ask Emily out.

Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds ={  
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Sometimes the one thing you are looking for is the one thing you can't see. – Anonymous.  
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Emily stood in the break room filling her coffee cup, with her first coffee of the day, when she seen the personal adds page of a news paper lying open on the counter.

She picked it up, looking around her first to make sure no one was looking, and began to browse through it... what the hell, her love life couldn't get much worse after all!

She threw it down almost immediately though... Christ sake, she wasn't that desperate... yet!

Anyway knowing her luck she'd end up with and pervy eighty year old who wanted her to pay for his hip and knee replacement.

She sighed as she stirred her coffee. I mean she was only thirty eight, and she was still good looking, she was pretty smart to... so why the hell couldn't she get a date... not even one!

It was then that Hotch walked in to fill his cup with what would probably be his third or fourth coffee of the day.

Now there was a man Emily would like to have a date with... Shame he didn't see her in that way though.

In fact she'd love a whole relationship with Aaron Hotchner... maybe even baby Aaron's and Emily's. Wait since when had she seen Hotch-her-boss in that way... and why the hell hadn't she been aware of it?

"Morning Hotch." She greeted in what she realised was an extremely flirty tone... Shit! Where the hell had that come from.

"Morning Emily." He replied, not the least bit phased by the tone that'd slipped out her mouth when she greeted him.

This if possible embarrassed Emily more than the fact she'd used that tone in the first place and she walked away quickly to her desk, nodding her head as she left.

As she left Rossi walked in to re-fill his cup. He noticed Emily's quick exit and noticed the look on Hotch's face.

"What'd I just miss?" he asked as he poured the coffee.

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked, staring at the spot Emily had just been standing in.

"I mean you haven't looked me in the eye since I walked in here and Emily just ran out looking as if she'd admitted to killing someone." Rossi said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"It's nothing... I think?" Hotch said, slouching his shoulders as he spoke.

This caused Rossi to snort with laughter.

"Come on... that lie wouldn't work on a monkey, never mind a trained profiler!" he laughed.

"Oh well... I thought I'd try it on the monkey first." Hotch said, cracking a small smile.

"Oh ha, ha... now tell me your problem before I decide you don't deserve my help." Rossi said, also smiling.

"Huh... I think Emil likes me." Hotch said awkwardly, looking anywhere but at Rossi.

"Jeez no shit Sherlock!" Rossi said, trying not to laugh at the fact Hotch didn't realise that before.

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked, looking up from the ground, surprised that his friend hadn't thought his revelation was shocking.

"Oh for Christ sake's Hotch... She's liked you since she joined the damn team from what I've heard... I mean we have bet's on how long it's going to be before she cracks and jumps your bones in the conference room!" Rossi stated impatiently.

"Seriously?" was the only word that Hotch could think to say at that statement.

"Oh god Hotch... if you haven't noticed it's seriously time to retire." Rossi said with a laugh.

"Well I have... oh I don't know, what am I meant to do?" he finally sighed.

Rossi rolled his eyes... for a trained profiler and former prosecutor Aaron Hotchner could be pretty dumb.

"Do you like her?" Rossi asked.

"Yes." Hotch said after a short pause.

"Well then TELL HER!" Rossi exclaimed.

"But..." Hotch started.

"But nothing Aaron... tell her now or have me and the rest of the team to answer to!" Rossi threatened.

"Tell who what?" JJ asked as she, Garcia, Reid and Morgan all walked in for their coffee.

Oh well that was just typical, Hotch thought... you couldn't have one private conversation about your love life in this office without them four knowing... the coffee machine really needed to be moved somewhere that people couldn't gossip at.

"Hotch likes Emily but he's afraid to tell her." Rossi stated plainly, ignoring the 'shut-the-fuck-up' look he got from Hotch.

"About time one of them admitted it!" Morgan said, as he filled his coffee cup.

"Oh tell her... tell her NOW!" Garcia said, getting very excited.

"YES!" Reid exclaimed causing the rest of the team to stare at him. "Well if you tell her now that means I won the bet." Reid said with a smile.

The rest of the team all looked disappointed at this but recovered quickly, the knowledge that Hotch was going to confess his feelings outweighing the fact they'd each lost fifty dollars.

"So when are you going to do it... and how?" Garcia asked.

"Ok I'm not proposing." Hotch said... shocked that they were taking such an interest.

"Well if you weren't so slow to realise your feelings you could be by now." Morgan said with a laugh.

"Oh very funny... what do I do though?" Hotch asked the team.

"Something romantic but not over the top." Offered JJ.

"Something spontaneous." Added Garcia.

"Something she'll like." Supplied Rossi.

"But do it today." Commented Reid, who was only half paying attention, as he was pouring coffee, and he didn't notice Emily walk over.

"Do what today?" She asked, suspicious as to why the team were gathered here gossiping without inviting her to join them.

There was a nervous look shared by the team before Morgan saved them.

"Ask Strauss to get a better coffee machine before this one dies completely." Morgan lied convincingly, pointing to the old coffee machine as he spoke.

"Oh right." Emily said, only half convinced but deciding to drop the subject as after her earlier slip up with Hotch she didn't want to be in the same room as him for too long.

Once she walked away again the team let out a sigh of relief and looked back at Hotch, waiting for him to speak again.

"Today at lunch... JJ, Garcia I'll need your help to." was all he said before walking away.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Hotch didn't get much work done that morning. After his talk with the team he'd come back to his office and started planning how he was going to tell Emily he loved her.

WAOH... loved? Where the hell had that come from? He didn't love her did he? If he did things could become interesting to say the least.

He knew what he was going to do and the plan had been put into action... thanks to the magic of JJ and the brilliance of Garcia, but what he didn't know is what he was going to say.

He was so deep in thought about the little matter of actually speaking he didn't hear the knock on his door.

"Hotch it's one o' clock." Rossi informed his friend as he made his way into the office and closed the door.

"So?" Hotch asked, not really paying attention to what the other man was saying.

"Well the plan was for you to tell Emily at lunch or Garcia won't be able to contain her excitement any longer and she'll shout it to anyone that'll listen." Rossi stated, adding an eye roll due to Hotch's lack of recollection at their earlier chat.

"Oh shit right." Hotch exclaimed, jumping up as he spoke.

Rossi watched in amusement as Hotch ran towards the office door, before pausing, taking a breath and stepping out, looking professional as ever.

Emily was sitting at her desk trying to decide whether she was in the mood for a proper lunch or just a sandwich when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

She looked up and cringed inwards when she seen the hand belonged to Hotch... she still wasn't fully recovered from her embarrassment incident this morning.

"Uh, hey Hotch." She said carefully, schooling her voice, not wanting to sound flirty again.

"Hey." He said before pausing for a moment. "Would you like to grab some lunch with me now?"

Emily froze... What if he wanted to 'talk' about earlier... and when she said talk she meant her sitting and listening as he told her how inappropriate she had been.

She wanted to say NO and run, just to save the embarrassment of the 'talk' but the part of her that wanted to sit in Hotch's presence won out in the end... no real surprise there, stupid handsome, smart, funny... sometimes... boss!

"Uh... Yea sure." She replied gingerly, getting up from her seat and following him out of the bullpen.

Once they reached the corridor, instead of heading for the elevator they turned towards the supply room.

"Uh... where are we going?" She asked.

"You'll see." Hotch said simply, still walking towards the room.

Oh shit, shitty, shitness... they were going to the supply room! As much as Emily wanted baby Hotch's the supply room was NOT the place she wanted them to be made. Not only was it tacky and un-professional, if they were caught the shit would seriously hit the fan!

She considered running but by the time she'd decided that they'd already reached the door and Hotch had turned to face her.

"After you." He said, pushing the door open.

Emily walked in not knowing what to expect. What she found however was way down on the list.

There was a picnic blanket taking up most of the space in the small room and on top there was a picnic basket with what looked like non-alcoholic champagne coming out the side.

There was also a radio in the corner playing 'I'm a believer' which was Emily's favourite song.

"Voila." Said Hotch in a bad French accent, as he stepped in behind her and closed the door, flicking on the light as he did so.

"Oh my god Hotch it's beautiful." Emily gasped, feeling like she was going to cry.

No man had ever done anything this special for her before... ever!

"Please Emily call me Aaron... there's something I need to say and if you're calling me Hotch I'll feel awkward." He admitted.

"Ok then... it's beautiful Aaron." She said with a smile, taking his hand and sitting down on the blanket as she spoke.

"Good I'm glad you like it." He admitted. "I knew how much you love picnics and well its pouring rain outside so in here will have to do." He added as he sat next to her.

"Uh... can I ask why you did all this?" Emily said nervously as Hotch took out the drinks and some bread sticks.

"Well the thing is... I like... I love you Emily and I have for a long time now so... I thought this would be the best way to show you." He told her, deciding it was best just to say what he felt.

This made Emily feel like exploding with happiness. He'd just said he loved her! HA... she wouldn't be needing personal add columns anymore.

"I love you to Aaron." She whispered, not trusting herself to talk loudly... afraid that her level of excitement may cause her voice to squeak when she spoke.

With that they leant in and kissed briefly. Though only quick, the very feeling of their lips touching sent shock waves down Emily's spine and gave her butterflies in her stomach.

When they broke apart they were both smiling and Hotch laid his hand to rest on Emily's and they let their fingers lace through one another's.

"We should do that more often." Emily stated matter of factly, still smiling.

"I wouldn't be against the idea." Hotch said, before leaning in and kissing her again, this time with more passion.

When they exited the room an hour later, after eating their entire picnic, they were met by five very excited looking agents.

"Hey!" JJ greeted them, far too cheerily, sounding almost like a hyper five year old.

"Jeez way to be discrete on the whole spying on us thing." Emily joked, as she looked at her friends lined up outside the door.

"Pfft... us discrete!" Garcia laughed. "I think you've got the wrong team."

"Obviously." Hotch replied dryly. "Because my team would be working right now instead of hanging around the storage room."

"Hypocrite." Rossi muttered causing the rest of the team, including Emily to laugh.

"Hey... you can't laugh at me, you're my girlfriend!" Hotch stated in a mock hurt tone.

"Aw... you said girlfriend." Garcia cooed.

"So I'm guessing something good happened in there." Morgan said, smiling slyly.

"That's for us to know and you never to find out." Emily teased, a blush gracing her features at the same time giving them away slightly.

"Well that's proof that something happened anyway." Piped up Reid, who noticed the blush on her cheeks.

"Kiss, kiss, kiss." Garcia chanted quietly, not wanting to draw the attention of anyone else, even though at lunch time the corridor was practically deserted.

Hotch rolled his eyes and was about to say 'not in the office' when he felt Emily kiss him on the cheek.

He couldn't help but lean into the kiss and was about to turn around and kiss her properly until he heard a chorus of aw's from the team.

"That is THE cutest moment EVER!" Garcia squeaked, practically bouncing on her heels.

"I completely agree." JJ gushed.

Ignoring their friends Emily and Hotch walked away with huge grins on both their faces.  
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Ta-Da... Say what you're thinking (that's what any good shrink would say). =)


End file.
